Protests Mark Chinese National Day in Hong Kong, With Police Violence Escalating to New Levels

INTENSIVE PROTESTS took place across Hong Kong today, marking the 70th anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic of China, also known as Chinese National Day. Police violence took place on a scale likely unprecedented in demonstrations to date, with one protester shot with a live round, making him the first demonstrator shot with live ammunition during demonstrations in Hong Kong over the past eighteen weeks.

Photo credit: Brian Hioe

Police refused to issue a letter of no objection to a planned march called for today by the Civil Human Rights Front. The Civil Human Rights Front has organized the largest demonstrations during the past few months of protest in Hong Kong, including demonstrations that have involved millions of participants. As such, smaller demonstrations instead took place across Hong Kong today.

Police began firing tear gas in the mid-afternoon, firing tear gas at demonstrators starting in Wong Tai Sin, Sha Tin, and Tsuen Wan, and at demonstrators who marched from Causeway Bay to demonstrate outside of Central Government Headquarters. The use of tear gas was also heavy in residential and commercial districts in Wan Chai.

Water cannon vehicles sprayed blue-colored liquid at demonstrators outside of Central Government Headquarters, forcing demonstrators to disperse in several different directions. Apart from also attacking demonstrators with batons, riot shields, at one point police began searching individuals sitting in the bleachers in Southorn Playground, claiming that there were “rioters” among them.

Demonstrators responded to police actions by building barricades, tearing up bricks from streets to do so in some cases, and throwing objects at police officers. Molotov cocktails were thrown at police stations in Tsim Sha Tsui and Mong Kok, government offices in Cheung Sha Wan, the Tai Wan MTR station, and other locations.

Indeed, much of the demonstration today was funeral-themed. Protesters scattered ghost money across city streets, which were also heavily graffitied, particularly outside of MTR stations. Posters pasted onto walls included not only protest artwork but the personal information of police officers. Fires were set directly on city streets, usually by lighting garbage on fire.

Photo credit: Brian Hioe

As the day went on, MTR stations across Hong Kong were shut down in order to prevent demonstrators from being able to use the MTR to evade police or to move between demonstrations. By night, large tracts of Hong Kong were without MTR service, although some buses were still operational. A total of 47 stations were closed.

What has especially been shocking, however, was that an eighteen-year-old male demonstrator was shot in the chest with a live round by police in the afternoon today. This makes him the first demonstrator to have been shot with a live round during demonstrations to date, although Hong Kong police have suggested that they might begin firing on protesters in the past. Some reports state that the bullet was three centimeters from his heart and that this demonstrator currently requires artificial respiration. The injured demonstrator is currently in critical condition, but it is already known that police plan on arresting him on charges of rioting, which could lead to a jail sentence of up to ten years.

It is thought that up to six live rounds may have been fired by police during demonstrations. Over sixty were injured, with two in critical condition. There were also several incidents of vehicles driving into crowds of protesters that took place during the day. The situation became sufficiently dangerous that media outlets including RTHK,SCMP, and other outlets reportedly began withdrawing reporters, an event which has not happened before in demonstrations to date.

However, what will happen next in Hong Kong is unknown. Certainly, protests in Hong Kong do not seem likely to end anytime soon. Yet with police having fired a live round at a demonstrator for the first time, this will no doubt lead to further outrage from members of the Hong Kong public, much as outrage previously ensued after a female medic was shot in the eye by demonstrators in August and after an Indonesian journalist was shot in the eye several days ago. Other protest actions are likely to be planned in the near future.

Brian Hioe was one of the founding editors of New Bloom. He is a freelance writer on social movements and politics, and occasional translator. A New York native and Taiwanese-American, he has an MA in East Asian Languages and Cultures from Columbia University and graduated from New York University with majors in History, East Asian Studies, and English Literature. He was Democracy and Human Rights Service Fellow at the Taiwan Foundation for Democracy from 2017 to 2018.

About New Bloom

New Bloom is an online magazine covering activism and youth politics in Taiwan and the Asia Pacific, founded in Taiwan in 2014 in the wake of the Sunflower Movement. We seek to put local voices in touch with international discourse, beginning with Taiwan.